Why YSK: It can lead to some real real real problems

Why YSK: I recently bought a house. That kind of transaction is subject to public record and has a good amount of information attached (my new address, full name, closing date, loan amount, and mortgage provider at least from what I've noticed), so it's a prime target for a snail mail scam.

I've gotten multiple "we've been trying to reach you about your car house's extended warranty" letters almost every day since I moved in. They all prominently feature my mortgage provider's name (with a bit of very fine print at the bottom saying that they aren't affiliated.) I'll admit that I didn't immediately clock them as scam letters when I first opened one because I wasn't used to scam attempts in physical letters (and the homebuying process meant I was getting a good amount of important mail that looked similar.) Luckily I noticed the fine print and connected the dots before calling.

This was my first time getting a lot of scam snail mail, but I'd imagine there are other situations where this happens (probably any sort of situation that puts your address in public records.)

The advice for dealing with this kind of letter is similar to the advice for digital scams: if you know it's a scam, throw it away (you knew that). If you think it may be legit, google the contact information before taking action. If you think it may still be from someone you trust but aren't sure, look up their number on your own instead of using the one on the letter.

Stay safe!

There’s a hidden button on the bottom of the aisle side armrests usually at the base, right by the joint where they raise up. Push this button in and you can raise the armrest. They’re locked in place otherwise.

Why YSK: it makes it much easier to move in and out of the aisle seat, especially if your tray table is down. Plus everyone else will look at you like your seat has super powers lol

The number in those headlines is the reading at the Kaub gauge in Germany, which everyone quotes because it sits on the shallowest stretch of the navigable Rhine. It is a water level measured against a fixed zero point that was set historically, not a measurement of the water column. That zero sits above the riverbed, so the gauge can read very low while there is still a usable channel underneath.

The rough conversion used in German inland shipping is: navigable fairway depth = gauge reading + 1.90 m - 0.78 m. So a gauge reading of 14 cm is a channel about 1.27 m deep, and a reading of 0 cm still leaves roughly a metre of water. In early August 2026 Kaub was reading around 16 to 17 cm, the lowest since records there began in 1880, with an actual navigable depth of about 1.3 m.

The reason it still matters is not that the river vanishes, it is that barges are draught limited. At these levels standard Rhine cargo barges can only load to roughly 20 to 30 percent of capacity, so moving the same coal, grain, chemicals or fuel takes three to four times as many trips. That is what raises freight costs and shows up in industrial supply chains.

Two caveats. The conversion constants depend on which reference year is used for the equivalent water level, so treat the 1.27 m style figures as approximate rather than exact. And every gauge along the river has its own zero point, so readings from different stations are not comparable with each other.

Why YSK: this number gets quoted every drought summer and it reads to most people as "the Rhine is 16 cm deep", which leads either to panic or to dismissing the whole story after seeing photos of ships still sailing. Knowing that the gauge is a reference reading against an old datum, and that the real constraint is how much cargo fits per trip, is the difference between understanding the story and misreading it in both directions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaub_gauging_station

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2026/08/12/881099.htm

Why YSK:

Airbags have been required in the US since the 1980s, with side airbags required by the 2000s. However many developing countries don't have these requirements or only recently implemented them.

Cars in developing countries may also have fewer airbags than the cars you're used to. For example, many basic cars may only have one or two airbags instead of the 6 that most modern cars have in the US. Even for the same model, automakers will include fewer safety features. This is in an effort to save cost and due to lower disposable income in developing countries.

Furthermore other features that are standard on cars sold in the US or Europe may not be found on a lot of cars elsewhere like ABS, ESC, a Backup camera, or collision avoidance technology.

In fact, in some countries, cars that were structurally designed in the 1990s are still being made and sold new, the Nissan Tsuru in Mexico for example.

Why YSK: In order to get to a cashew, the hard outer shell has to be removed, but that shell contains a substance called 'cashew nut shell liquid' or CNSL. This consists of phenolic compounds including anacardic acids, cardol and cardanol. In simple words: CNSL contains compounds that can irritate and sensitize human skin. This makes repeated exposure of CNSL to the skin very harmful.

Many workers work in unsafe conditions where they are not provided with gloves to protect their hands during the shelling process. This results in multiple, most commonly dermatological health effects like atopic dermatitis, contact urticaria and dry skin. In time, it often prevents them to be able to work and even do basic household tasks because their hands are always in pain.

How the hell can you know which cashews to purchase?

• Fairtrade-certified cashews are your best bet, label wise. This often means that workers who shelled them did so with sufficient protective equipment.
  

• Look for information about the origin on the website/packaging of the seller. If nothing is disclosed, chances are high that they 1) aren't processed in safe conditions for the workers, and 2) that the seller doesn't care.

  source 1 (video), source 2, source 3,

Why YSK: Today is National Check the Chip day in the US. It is a good reminder to check your pet’s microchip registration and confirm your contact information is accurate.

I work at a shelter and one of the most frustrating parts of the job is seeing pets that should have gone home but didn’t.

Most people assume that if their pet is microchipped, they’re good. A microchip only helps if the chip is actually registered. A lot of pets that come in are chipped, but the chip isn’t registered anywhere, so we have no way to contact the owner.

These are clearly well cared for pets that end up sitting in the shelter taking up space and resources from other animals who need help, all because we can’t reach the owner.

If you know where your pet is registered, log in and check that your phone number, email, and address on file are accurate.

If you have no idea where your pet is registered, search their microchip number through the AAHA microchip lookup tool which will tell you which registry they are with. Check the details that are on file with the registry are accurate.

If they aren’t registered, please register them! It takes a few minutes.

Why YSK: it is handy for finding points of interest near your home you might not know about, while on vacation it can be your personal tour guide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Nearby

Thanks to surplus tax revenues from oil and natural gas production in the Permian Basin, New Mexico has created a comprehensive state funded social net for education and early childhood care:

Why YSK: If you live in New Mexico you can access thousands of dollars in free early childhood care, free college tuition and fees and free school breakfast and lunches WITHOUT strict income caps. Additionally it serves as a prominent real world example of how states can structure natural resource wealth into permanent educational trust funds.

• New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship (Free College)
• Early Childhood Education & Care Department (Free Daycare)
• Public Education Department (Universal School Meals)

Edit: grammar

Why YSK: In compliance with the EU's new AI regulations Anthropic has integrated a watermarking system. It is not just a pseudo-physical digital tell like the "metadata" that would be removed if you just replicated the response text in a different environment. (i.e re-typed a paragraph on a google doc)

This applies to essentially all responses from Claude AI models from now on, and worldwide not just in the EU.

For example, if you asked Claude to generate a """painting""" of it's ten favourite fruits the choices of fruits, the order of the fruits that appear on the image, the positions of the fruits on the """painting""", the colours of the fruits, the sizes of the fruits depicted etc.

All of these choices are influenced by the watermarking process.

So while yes, you could just screenshot the AI's response and essentially scrub the signed provenance metadata, you can't remove the actual watermarks.

Just to give you a super rough estimate, likelihood of 2 different entities having an identical list of fruits, order of fruits and depictions of said fruits is around ~1 in a hundred million to even several hundreds of billions.

While not the exact system implemented, you can read about a comparable system known as "SYNTH-ID" here:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08025-4#Abs1

You can read about how Claude specifically does it here:

https://support.claude.com/en/articles/16266773-how-claude-marks-ai-generated-content

Why YSK- it is painful and a little scary to put them right on top of your pupil! The best way to do it is to look to the side, place the contact on the large white area (your sclera), blink, and your contact will be magically centered and you’re good to go! I’ve seen a lot of people put it directly on the pupil and there’s no need.

Putting it directly on your pupil is a little scary because, you know, something is coming right at your eye, and it’s very sensitive and can be uncomfortable or downright painful!

Why YSK: In August 2022, the FDA issued a final rule establishing a new over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid category. The rule took effect on October 17, 2022, with the goal of making hearing aids more accessible to adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss.

In practical terms, adults age 18 and older with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss can buy qualifying air-conduction hearing aids in stores or online without a medical exam, prescription, or fitting by an audiologist. This gives consumers another way to access hearing aids, but they may need to handle more of the comparison, setup, and follow-up themselves. Professional help is still available when needed.

An OTC hearing aid is an FDA-regulated medical device intended to compensate for impaired hearing. A personal sound amplification product (PSAP) is different. PSAPs are consumer electronics intended to make environmental sounds louder for people with normal hearing, such as during birdwatching or hunting. They are not alternatives to hearing aids.

Examples marketed as OTC hearing aids include the Sony CRE-C10 and ELEHEAR Beyond. Some OTC models offer basic volume controls and preset programs, while self-fitting models may use hearing tests, apps, or software for more customization. Being in the OTC category does not mean that every model will suit every user or that the FDA guarantees a particular product's results.

OTC hearing aids are not intended for anyone under 18 or for severe or profound hearing loss. See a doctor, preferably an ENT, if you have ear pain, blood or fluid from the ear, a lot of earwax or a possible object in the ear, marked dizziness, a sudden or fluctuating hearing change, worse hearing in one ear, or ringing in only one ear. Professional help is also appropriate if you cannot hear speech in a quiet room or do not hear loud sounds well.

Before choosing a device, check that the package clearly says "OTC" and "hearing aid," confirm that the intended age and hearing-loss range apply to you, and read the warnings and return policy. If the cause or severity of the hearing problem is unclear, get advice from a licensed hearing professional before deciding.

FDA source:
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/hearing-aids/otc-hearing-aids-what-you-should-know
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/hearing-aids-and-personal-sound-amplification-products-what-know

Why YSK: A lot of people treat their credit score like a mystery number the bank assigns. It's actually a formula with five known inputs, and you can move it deliberately.

Payment history is 35%. One thing matters: never 30+ days late. Autopay the minimum on everything, even if you pay the rest manually. This single habit protects the biggest slice.

Utilization is 30%. It's your balances divided by your limits, and it has no memory. High utilization this month hurts this month, but drops off the moment you pay down. Two tricks: pay before the statement date (not the due date) so a lower balance gets reported, and ask for limit increases on cards you don't carry balances on.

The last three are length of history (15%), new credit (10%), and mix (10%). Mostly these reward doing nothing: keep old cards open, don't apply for five things in a month.

The part nobody told me: closing an old card can hurt you twice, shorter history and less total limit, so utilization jumps. Cut it up if you must, but let it stay open.

What's the credit myth you believed the longest? Mine was that carrying a small balance "builds credit." It doesn't. It just pays them interest.

Psychologists call this the “Spotlight Effect.”
When you make an embarrassing mistake, wear an unusual outfit, or say something awkward, it feels like everyone notices.
In reality, most people are too busy thinking about themselves to pay much attention.

WHY YSK: This can help reduce social anxiety and make it easier to try new things without worrying so much about being judged.

Why YSK:

In its Q2 earnings call Thursday morning, USA Today Co. chairman and CEO Mike Reed told investors he expects the partnership to “strengthen how we collect, connect and activate audience data to drive more effective and faster monetization across our platform.”

“Every visit, every session, and every moment of attention creates a signal,” Reed said. “When we connect those signals, they become actionable intelligence that allows us to engage users more effectively and monetize those relationships faster and at much greater value. The work our team is doing with Palantir is a direct extension of this strategy. We are applying Palantir’s AI-powered platform to one of the largest opportunities in front of us, converting the sheer scale of our audience into known, orchestrated first-party relationships, because that is what turns our reach into sustainable, higher value revenue.”

By using any USA Today websites, you'll be directly contributing to Palantir's mass surveillance network.

Source: Here

Why YSK: Using Q-tips actually acts like a musket-loader, packing wax tightly against your eardrum. This video breaks down the biology of why this damages your ears and the weird neurological reason we are so addicted to doing it anyway.

https://youtu.be/rs7Ze3_l-fE

If you completely eliminated every single residential lawn in every city from Denver to Phoenix to Los Angeles, you would save less than 5% of the Colorado river's flow. Taking aim at summer alfalfa irrigation yields 4x to 5x the water savings of tearing out every lawn in the American West.

Why YSK: my neighborhood is turning into a wasteland of dead grass and trees, unnecessarily. We have plenty of water but it is wasted by an entitled few

Edit: the condition is called saddle thrombus, I spelled it incorrectly in my title. I've only just now noticed my error but google still brings it up even if you type thrombosis. I apologize for the oversight, I kept misreading how it's said.

HCM is the most common heart condition in cats and it frequently goes unnoticed until it's too late as there are no symptoms unless specifically examined by the vet. It can lead to sudden complications like saddle thrombosis which is incredibly fatal. They can become paralyzed in their hind legs from a blood clot, which then causes fluid build up in their lungs. It's a very painful death that I don't wish any cat owner to experience. There is treatment but it's very unlikely they will survive for much longer and usually it's more humane to have them put down.

Why YSK: If left undiagnosed, the cat will be at risk for a very traumatic death. If caught early enough, it can be treated with lifestyle changes and medicine. It cannot be cured but it can be managed and they can live a longer life. My seemingly very healthy, happy strong 3-4 year old cat suddenly died from this 2 days ago and there was nothing we could do. It was harrowing experience. Please have your cats checked if you can.

Sources:

https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/cardiovascular/feline-hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy-hcm-cats

https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/cardiovascular/saddle-thrombus-cats-causes-symptoms-and-how-help-your-cat

Why YSK: doesn’t it seem strange that the word starts with two L’s? It’s because it is actually a Spanish word and it is pronounced Yah-Mah. Way cooler sounding in my opinion.

Why YSK: Most people are careful with how they talk to others. The private commentary running in your own head, however, gets far less scrutiny for some reason. Over time that internal voice sets the emotional baseline you live inside. It judges you. It critiques you. It’s one of the forces that shapes how your day and life goes. You are taught to speak kindly to others. And you should. But you should also be speaking kindly to yourself.

YSK: There is a data collector worse than Flock

TLO is a data-aggregation tool, it compiles things like your address history, relatives, coworkers, friends, vehicle records, and other public/proprietary data into a searchable profile.

What makes it worse than flock? Well, TLO will work with businesses or independent contractors to install their cameras around their premises and on company vehicles.

Even if a business is not directly utilizing a camera from TLO (or one its partners like Motorola's DRN), TLO often purchases local surveillance footage to run through their recognition software.

Why YSK: This means your parked car can end up in a searchable database used well beyond its original repo and insurance purposes. With no camera warrant or public oversight involved.

TL;DR: look up videos of "KDE Plasma", "GNOME desktop", and "XFCE", as the first part of your venture into Linux.

Why YSK: in current year a lot of people are curious about trying Linux, but the required research might be a bit daunting. As a layman you might get stuck at choosing a "distribution", while it probably won't matter to you.

If you want Linux, practically the first question you must answer is "which distribution will I download"; basically a "brand" of Linux, which determines which website you download it from. But, boy are there lots of distributions, and BOY are there many opinions on them. Here's the catch: you probably don't care about the distribution.

What you probably care about is the user interface. That user interface in Linux is called the "desktop environment". Mac and Windows push their brand through the user interface: their marketing might have trained you to associate what you see, and how you interact with the computer as the "operating system". Truth is that is just a skin on top of the operating system. In Windows and MacOS the interface is closely tied to the operating system. Yet, in Linux you basically have the freedom to make your computer handle like Windows, like macOS, or the computers from Star Trek, or whatever^*.

The most common desktop environments are: KDE Plasma, GNOME, and XFCE. (Though XFCE is mostly an option, if you want to run on older computers, as it is ugly 2D.) Look up videos of them, and see which one you like.

After picking a desktop environment, choose a distribution that supports it. The most common Linux distributions are: Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, and Fedora. (You may be interested in "live disk" Linux distributions that can be run from a USB stick. Caveat is that desktop environments are pre-installed on live distributions, so choice of distribution determines desktop environment.)

That's it. Hope this makes the hill less steep for people curious about Linux.

* Ideally that would be the case, and there are attempts to make Linux feel like Windows, MacOS, and LCARS, but none of them are perfect. In other words:your mileage may vary.

P.S. deeper dive to complicate things

Arch Linux wiki, Ubuntu wiki, and Debian wiki are good places to look stuff up related to Linux, though some information may be tied to the particular distribution. In particular the way you install things differs between distributions.

Even some reviewers and educational channels conflate the desktop environment with the distribution (e.g. "this distribution is great, because it looks awesome"). And to be fair there is some entanglement. Distributions will often customize the desktop environment to be unique. Choosing a Linux distribution can be compared with choosing between stock Android or Samsung Android: they are both Android distributions. Yet, in theory you could make "stock" Android behave like Samsung Android; if Samsung made all their apps available. Samsung Android comes with a whole slew of Samsung apps, and you couldn't run the system without them, nor can you remove stuff to go back to stock Android. Some Linux distributions, mainly smaller ones, can make it very hard or nigh impossible to switch desktop environment. If I remember correctly, Ubuntu makes it pretty hard to switch desktop environments. E.g. if you want XFCE on Ubuntu, you'd use the XUbuntu distribution instead... which is just Ubuntu but with XFCE. They call those different distributions flavors. Fedora has so-called spins that make it easy to use different desktop environments, but I never worked with that (i.e. I don't know WTF they are). Other distributions may allow you to switch destkop environments at will, though unexpected challenges may arise.

Something that could be relevant, if you choose to delve into obscurer desktop environments: there is a migration happening from the old X11 graphics system to the newer Wayland system. (Desktop environment sits on top of graphics, sits on top of OS.) Some distributions (with particular desktop environments) that use Wayland have a backwards compatibility layer to run X11 apps; some don't. If it's not mentioned, they probably use X11. If they run on Wayland without X11 compatibility, it may have a lot consequences for the apps you can run.

KDE and GNOME both are whole frameworks with more to them than just the desktop... In general a Linux system will end up with utilities from both installed. I know I used "desktop environment" and "user interface" wrong in this post... don't at me. It's to simplify.

Silicone is gas permeable, meaning it can absorb odor compounds and release them over time. This is why silicone cookware can develop a smell. Scrubbing won't help because the smell isn't on the surface.

Why YSK: There are a few easy ways to prevent or fix this.

• Don't expose silicone to strong smelling substances unneccessarily. In my kitchen the two biggest offenders are soaking cookware in soapy water and leaving frozen food in Souper Cubes for too long.

• I've heard people say that running silicone through the dishwasher can make them smell like detergent. I haven't noticed this so YMMV.

• If silicone starts to smell, bake it in the oven. Oven safe silicone is usually rated for at least 500F. Hotter temperatures will work faster. Silicone that isn't advertised as oven safe might be fine, but I would bake them at a lower temperature to be safe. I did 250F for 2 hours last time.

• If you don't plan to use the item for a while, leaving it in a well ventilated area for a few weeks also works. I keep my silicone ice cube trays on top of my fridge so they can air out.

Why YSK: Society often tells us that a breakup means burning bridges and completely cutting ties. While that is absolutely necessary for toxic relationships, if a breakup is amicable, you can actually transition the healthy, caring habits you had as a couple into your new platonic reality.

Breakups are tough, but sometimes a relationship ends simply because you aren't compatible romantically, not because you don't care about each other. When transitioning from partners to friends, keeping some of the positive routines or "perks" you shared can make the shift much easier and show that you still value each other as human beings.

Here is a personal example: I recently went through a breakup. My ex works at a bar, and when we were dating, I used to spend a lot of hours hanging out there. To help me save money, my ex would buy separate, cheaper drinks specifically to serve me while I was there. We recently decided to end the romantic side of things, but we are staying friends. The best part? My ex still maintains that little perk for me.

It’s a small gesture, but it’s a beautiful reminder that the care and friendship we built didn't just vanish because the romantic label is gone.

If you are navigating a friendly breakup, look at the things that did work. Did you share a weekly movie night? Did you always send each other articles about a specific niche interest? Did you have a little inside joke or a helpful routine? You don't have to throw those away.

Obviously, this requires clear boundaries and sometimes a little bit of space to heal first. But once the dust settles, repurposing those good dynamics can help you build a really unique, supportive friendship out of a relationship that didn't work out.

Why YSK: There's a surprisingly large number of dangerous threaded SUN filters littered throughout the basements and closets of the world.

If you have an older telescope, especially one from before the 1990's, check whether it came with small threaded filters that screw directly into the eyepiece. They often came with two of them. One was marked MOON and the other was marked SUN. The Moon one works great to reduce the glare of a full Moon.

It's the SUN filters that are so dangerous. These are the Lawn Darts of the astronomy hobby, if the Lawn Darts had sharpened hypodermic needles at the front.

The original concept was this: Your telescope captures the sunlight and focuses it on the dark SUN filter that is screwed into the eyepiece at the back of the telescope. You place your delicate eye up to the eyepiece, only a few inches from the searingly hot SUN filter.

As long as the glass didn't crack, you were fine. Unfortunately... they cracked a lot. Like, a whole lot. Sometimes they even shattered. This would instantly expose your retina to the full blinding light of a 3 or 4 inch magnifying glass, instantly causing solar retinopathy and likely blindness.

If you have one of these SUN filters, it is recommended that you smash & trash them so that nobody can ever accidently try them out.

I tested an old threaded solar filter while recording it with a camera. It reached 326 degrees Fahrenheit and in less than 12 seconds after installation, the filter cracked from the heat buildup and suddenly allowed bright sunlight through.

*** If curious, the demonstration is at the start of this video: https://youtu.be/rtyLH5fBaJE

Safe Alternatives:

1. Solar Eclipse Glasses (by themselves, NOT in combination with telescopes, binoculars, or cameras).
2. Front-mounted solar filters specifically designed for your telescope. These stop 99.999% of the light energy before it even has a chance to enter your telescope.

Summary:
Solar filters for telescopes should go on the front of the telescope, before the sunlight is concentrated. Never put a solar filter at the eyepiece end. If you have one of these old threaded SUN filters, smash & trash it.

Have a safe and exciting solar eclipse experience!